Antipsychotic drug, any agent used in the treatment of psychosis, a form of mental illness. Psychoses can affect cognitive processes such as judgment and frequently cause delusions and hallucinations. The most widely known psychosis is schizophrenia. Effective treatments for some forms of schizophrenia have revolutionized thinking about the disease and have prompted investigations into its possible genetic origins and pathological causes. These investigations have also shed light on the mechanisms by which antipsychotic drugs may exert their effects.

The history of reserpine can be traced to an Indian shrub, called Rauwolfia serpentina for its snakelike appearance, which historically was used to treat snake bites, insomnia, high blood pressure, and mental illness. Reserpine, the principal alkaloid of the plant, was first isolated in the 1950s and was used in the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure diagnosed clinically). It was later given to persons with schizophrenia, in whom the drug was found to act as a behavioral depressant. In fact, the depression of patients given the drug for hypertension was a major side effect. The basic mechanisms of action of reserpine in producing depression are attributed to its ability to deplete the brain’s stores of the neurotransmittersserotonin and norepinephrine.

The second major class of antipsychotic drugs, the phenothiazines, arose from modifications of the dye methylene blue, which was under investigation as an antagonist of histamine. Attempts to modify this series to increase their activity in the central nervous system and reduce the need for surgical anesthetics ultimately led to the first effective drug of this class, chlorpromazine. Its ability to stabilize behaviour and to improve lucidity as well as to reduce hallucinatory behaviour was recognized within a few years of its introduction in the mid-1950s. The use of chlorpromazine changed the role of the mental hospital and resulted in the large-scale, perhaps excessive, discharge of persons with schizophrenia into the outside world.

A third class of antipsychotics, the butyrophenones, emerged when a small Belgian drug company embarked on a plan in the late 1950s to develop analogs of meperidine through inexpensive chemical substitutions. Experiments gave rise to a compound that caused chlorpromazine-like sedation but had a completely different structure. This led to the compound haloperidol, a more powerful antipsychotic with relatively fewer side effects.

A fourth class of drugs, commonly known as “atypicals” but more properly called atypical antipsychotics or serotonin-dopamineantagonists, is related to chlorpromazine and to haloperidol. These antipsychotics can improve both the so-called positive symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions, and agitation) and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as catatonia and flattening of the ability to experience emotion. Each agent in this group has a unique profile of receptor interactions. Virtually all antipsychotics block dopamine receptors and reduce dopaminergic transmission in the forebrain. The atypical antipsychotics also have affinity for serotonin receptors.

The major acute side effects of chlorpromazine and haloperidol are oversedation and a malaise that makes the drugs poorly received by the patient and makes compliance with chronic self-medication difficult. Prolonged treatment of middle-aged and even young adults with antipsychotic drugs can evoke serious movement disorders that in part resemble Parkinson disease, a degenerative condition of the nerves. First to appear are tremors and rigidity, and those are followed by more complex movement disorders commonly associated with involuntary twitching movements on the arms, lips, and tongue, called tardive dyskinesia. The atypical antipsychotics do not produce the movement disorders that are seen with the use of the older drugs, probably because of their affinity for both serotonin and dopamine receptors. None of the antipsychotics is curative, because none eliminates the fundamental disorder of thought processes.

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is a rare, potentially fatal neurological side effect of antipsychotic drug use. Individuals develop a severe rigidity with catatonia, autonomic instability, and stupor, which may persist for more than one week. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome has occurred with all antipsychotics, but the disorder is more common with relatively high doses of more potent agents such as haloperidol.

Antipsychotic medications, which are also known as neuroleptics and major tranquilizers, belong to several different chemical groups but are similar in their therapeutic effects. These medications have a calming effect that is valuable in the relief of agitation, excitement, and violent behaviour in persons with psychoses. The drugs are quite successful in reducing the symptoms of...

Like benzodiazepines, antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine, perphenazine, and haloperidol have a relatively large therapeutic index, rarely causing fatalities. They occasionally may block the action of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems and thus produce such undesired effects as dry mouth and blurred vision from the former and a drop in blood pressure upon standing in the...